On this assessment, I shall be trying out Mia and The Dragon Princess from the sport improvement studio Wales Interactive. I believe it’s truthful to say that ‘Wales Interactive’ has given us an expansive run of FMV video games through the years. The truth that there’s a brand new recreation each quarter goes to point out the religion that they’ve of their model. They’re unofficially recognized for being the king and Queens of the FMV style for the fashionable age, bringing us absolute classics like ‘Late Shift’, ‘The Advanced’, ‘5 Dates’, ‘Who Pressed Mute On Uncle Marcus’, ‘Blood Shore’ and most lately ‘Ten Dates’. They’ve additionally introduced us indie gems like ‘The Bunker’, ‘The Shapeshifting Detective’ and ‘I Noticed Black Clouds’ to call a couple of. And let’s not neglect their FPV horror survival hit ‘Maid of Sker’.
Now I’ve said earlier than in my previous opinions of ‘Wales interactive’ video games that they’re my favorite developer, not simply because I like the video games they launch, however as a result of every one brings one thing new to the desk. From riveting tales, new gameplay mechanics and delving into totally different genres, Wales Interactive isn’t afraid to experiment.
So let’s see how they’ve performed this time round with ‘The Goonies’ impressed treasure searching journey of ‘Mia and the Dragon Princess’.
The story opens up with a very nice animation sequence supplying you with the backstory of Marshanda and the way she got here to fulfill the notorious pirate generally known as ‘Crimson Cat’. We be taught that the pair have these wrist gadgets (central plot machine) that may lead them again to 1 one other if separated.
After this animatic sequence is completed we open on Marshanda within the current day in a hospital robe confused, on the run and misplaced in time. We see that she is sporting certainly one of these wrist gadgets that leads her to the ‘Dragon Princess’ restaurant owned by the story’s villain Mr Walsh performed by ‘Physician Who’s’ (and the one and solely Physician) Paul McGann. So instantly this units the tone for this story. It includes pirates and a mystical wrist machine main the principle character someplace which signifies that the story includes a treasure hunt of types.
We’re subsequent launched to the secondary (and titular) Protagonist ‘Mia’ who’s a waitress working on the ‘Smugglers Tavern’ bar positioned instantly beneath the ‘Dragon Princess’ restaurant and owned by Skip performed by ‘Line Of Responsibility’s’ Brian McCardie. We had been additionally launched to a different well-known face right here with ‘The Witcher’s’ MyAnnna Buring. They’ve actually put numerous effort into giving us an all-star solid to inform this story.
With out giving an excessive amount of away we discover out that Marshanda is seeking to reunite along with her pirate pal ‘Crimson Cat’, nonetheless, her plan is disrupted by Paul McGann’s ‘Mr Walsh’ who desires Marshanda’s wrist machine to be able to discover a misplaced pirate treasure. The story then takes us from the ‘Smugglers Tavern’ all the way in which to the misplaced underground rivers of London. It’s a narrative with some twists and turns which have callbacks to such movies as ‘The Goonies’ and ‘Nationwide Treasure’.
It’s an excellent story with a number of totally different paths to select from and within the conventional ‘Wales Interactive’ fashion, every alternative unlocks a brand new scene with a brand new branching story path resulting in a doable 10 totally different endings.
What’s distinctive this time round is the very cool and intuitive story tree that allows you to visually see all of the branching paths that the story can go in. All of the paths are greyed out to start with, however as you unlock an increasing number of scenes these paths will begin to fill in. What’s actually nice about this new characteristic nonetheless is that it provides the choice to see what your present path on the story is and in addition the earlier path that you’ll have taken. This actually is a useful characteristic because it lets you visually map out what paths to decide on to be able to unlock extra scenes. I personally love this new characteristic and hope to see it in future ‘Wales Interactive‘ FMV video games going ahead.
One other new characteristic in ‘Mia and The Dragon Princess’ is a standing bar that seems every time you make a alternative. These stats vary from traits akin to well being, power and intelligence. It’s a cool characteristic to have in an journey treasure-hunting recreation, nonetheless, I didn’t actually really feel prefer it added something to my playthroughs within the grand scheme of issues. I get that it’s a brand new tackle the statistics display screen that normally exhibits up on the finish of each playthrough in previous video games which exhibits you the way you acted in that exact sitting, but I used to be extra targeted on the alternatives I used to be making and the motion on the display screen that I’d usually neglect what my stats had been saying. Once more I get what they had been making an attempt to do in displaying real-time statistics, nonetheless, I personally favor seeing all of it in abstract on the finish.
One slight subject that I did face was some body fee points close to the beginning of the sport. Sadly, this occurs in roughly the identical place in every playthrough. This assessment is predicated on an Xbox Collection X playthrough, nonetheless, I did check out the Android model to check this subject and it happens throughout the identical scene close to the beginning of the sport. Now it’s nothing detrimental to the general expertise nevertheless it seems to be extra a technical subject on the filming aspect of issues greater than the gameplay aspect. One other subject that may be a pet peeve of mine (being a filmmaker) is one which I’ve seen in previous ‘Wales Interactive’ video games. This being scenes not being accurately white balanced and in addition typically scenes being overexposed with exterior photographs or inside home windows being blown out. Once more this isn’t a gameplay subject, it’s extra of a technical subject to do with the filming aspect of the mission. It doesn’t hurt the general high quality of the piece nonetheless scenes with these points are extra noticeable and detract from the immersion at instances.
General ‘Mia and The Dragon Princess’ is a enjoyable trip with a unusual solid of characters set in an fascinating, however considerably overplayed story. With new and much-awaited gameplay options ‘Mia and The Dragon Princess’ units the bar for future ‘Wales Interactive’ FMV video games. It’s a recreation that can preserve you hooked with every playthrough, making you wish to come again for extra.
So with that mentioned ‘Mia and The Dragon Princess’ will get a complete rating of 8/10.
Mia and The Dragon Princess Trailer
‘Mia and The Dragon Princess’ is obtainable on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Collection X and S, PC, Mac, Nintendo Swap, Android and IOS.
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